Love Child of Edward VIII "The Times" July 11, 1999.
topa...@my-deja.com
relationship with the children of his mistress Camilla Parker Bowles.
Are they too not only his god children, but real children? If so it may
just be in keeping with a longstanding royal tradition.
Now for The Times article:
©
Horsey set: the young Edward
Was Edwina the love child of Edward VIII?
by Christopher Morgan
THE villagers of Pitsford have kept their secret about Edward VIII for
80 years. But those few who still remember the frequent royal visitor
to their corner of rural England have finally revealed the story of the
prince, the lady of Pitsford Hall and her daughter Edwina.
The girl was, they say, the secret love-child of England's unfortunate
king. After years of discretion, some are now speaking out.
Set in 25 acres of woodland, Pitsford Hall lies just north of
Northampton. It was bought in March 1919 by Captain George Drummond,
chairman of Drummonds Bank, who had recently married a woman from
Canada. His young wife Kathleen was a keen horsewoman and they often
rode to hounds.
That year, the sporting young Prince of Wales, Edward, was a house
guest of the Drummonds. He had to undertake a lengthy tour of Canada
that autumn and later became a regular participant with the Drummonds
in the local hunt, the Pytchley. The newspapers recorded his tumbles -
and how his charm won him great popularity. Only 5ft 6in, he had blond
hair and a perfect complexion that gave him a vulnerable air.
Wilf Harris, then a choirboy at the village church, recalls the
prince's visits. "We were told not to stare at royalty," said Harris,
88, who still lives in the village. "He would come and sit in the
Drummond pew. We all knew he was fond of horses and her [Mrs
Drummond]." Many in the village, he said, believed the prince was
having an affair with Kathleen and was the father of her third
daughter, Edwina. "No doubt about it," said Harris.
Another local, a retired policeman in Northamptonshire, agrees. His
mother was an employee at Pitsford Hall and he has been left in no
doubt by the stories handed down to him.
"Edwina was the prince's daughter," he said. "Everyone knew she was
different."
He has a photograph of the four Drummond children surrounding their
mother. Edwina, whose name echoes that of the prince, looks strikingly
aloof from her sisters. "Her sisters were prepared to rough it and mix
with the villagers," said the retired policeman, who asked not to be
named. "Edwina expected to be waited on. Things never changed; she was
always the odd one out."
Some villagers tell the tale of how Drummond had caught his wife and
the prince in a compromising position in the stable block. Drummond, a
towering man, every inch the country squire, is said to have
declared: "Sir, I will share my wine and horses with any man but I will
share my wife with no man!"
Others believe Drummond did not discover the affair. Newspaper reports
record how Edward remained a regular rider with the hunt for years. In
one picture in the Northampton Chronicle of the prince, wearing a top
hat, Kathleen can be seen in the background. The Daily Chronicle
recorded that on another occasion, when Edward stayed at Pitsford
Hall, "he requested that his room be moved nearer the nursery" so that
he might see as much as he could of one of the children.
Was Edwina his love-child? Proof is hard to come by. Kathleen died in
1933 of pneumonia; Drummond remarried and died in 1963. But his widow
Honora survives, and last week she added to the Pitsford mystery.
"My husband was strict and censorious," she said. "Kate, who was highly
strung, was the life and soul of the party. It was thus natural that
when the party-going prince arrived she was attracted to him. All four
daughters told me that the prince was in love with their mother."
Edward's juvenile 'appeal' to older women is illustrated by his
letters, only recently published, to Freda Dudley Ward, with whom he
was also connected at the time. In May 1919 he wrote to her: "My very
own darling beloved Freddie-weddie. I am so afraid of missing the post,
which will make me cry and you 'thulky' and I just couldn't bear to
think my little Freddie was thulking when I wasn't there to unthulk
her!!!! What babies we both are sweetheart, but I do love you so and it
does us both so much good, doesn't it." To some women, the mixture of
royalty and childish vulnerability was irresistible.
To Honora, the idea of Edward fathering Edwina explains the oddities of
the Drummond family. Edwina had a turned-up nose, similar to the
prince's, which contrasted with Drummond's aquiline features. It was
Edwina, too, who in 1937 greeted Edward when he visited Munich, where
she was at finishing school. As Duke of Windsor after his abdication
from the throne, he made a famous trip to Germany and met Hitler.
Drummond was also involved in far-right politics and became a member of
The Link, an organisation founded to promote understanding between
Britain and Germany. One, Ben Clingain, a local author and publisher,
is writing a book about it.
Despite Drummond's known Nazi sympathies, King George VI was willing to
be the godfather of his first-born son George by his second marriage to
Honora.
If Edwina did have royal blood, it might explain the style of her later
life. She married a colourful Swiss man called Eric Miville, who is
said to have served in the French Foreign Legion and they moved to
Ireland, where they opened a stud farm. But they lived in a style, in
the words of one of the racing fraternity, more like a "prince and
princess". They employed a string of servants and a butler.
Although it proves no blood-link to the royal family, Edwina's status
mystified friends. "When ambassadors came calling in Dublin," said
one, "the Mivilles would entertain them as well. Somehow you had the
feeling that they were something to do with the royal family."
When Miville died in the late 1960s, Edwina moved house and faded from
the social scene. According to Honora, the death of her husband sapped
her will and she became reclusive. After a period of illness, she died
in the late 1980s.
She took to her grave the answer to the mystery of her real
relationship to her godfather, Edward, so the secrets of Pitsford Hall
may never be fully unravelled.
The house became the headquarters of the Amalgamated Engineering Union
after the Drummond family moved out; later it became a convent school
for Polish girls and an independent grammar school for boys.
But in sleepy Pitsford village, the locals firmly believe that its
royal visitor 80 years ago was more than just, as one newspaper
described him, "a firm favourite with the [Drummond] children".
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
iris...@my-deja.com
> relationship with the children of his mistress Camilla Parker Bowles.
> Are they too not only his god children, but real children? If so it
may
> just be in keeping with a longstanding royal tradition.
>
I think you're very right Topaz,,,,
Sounds right to me....
How familiar...
Sure this man writing the article isn't really putting up a trial
ballon like politicans do?????
But anyhow....
herodotu...@my-deja.com
topa...@my-deja.com wrote:
> Personal Comments by Topaz: This reminds me so much of Pr. Charles'
> relationship with the children of his mistress Camilla Parker Bowles.
> Are they too not only his god children, but real children? If so it
may
> just be in keeping with a longstanding royal tradition.
Thank you for the article, Topaz. I've wondered for a long time about
the paternity of the Parker Bowles children. If Tom Parker Bowles is
William and Harry's half brother, it would explain why he has had such
a close relationship with them and why his character defects were
overlooked.
Needless to say with the advent of DNA testing, as long as there is a
body with some tissue to be tested, paternity can now be determined
long after death.
Maxie